Salvage Crews Race to Clear More Wreckage of Baltimore Bridge

April 16th, 10:00 AM EDT

By NEWSnet Digital Team

Singapore-flagged container vessel Dali after hitting the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore Maryland,

Bloomberg Television / YouTube via MGN

SPARROWS POINT, Md. (NEWSnet/AP) — Crews are using the largest available crane on the Eastern Seaboard to haul pieces of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge out of the critical shipping channel.

The bridge collapsed March 26 under the impact of a cargo ship that lost power.

The heaviest bridge section so far weighed about 450 tons.

[Earlier Report: Third Channel to Open for Vessels to Bypass Baltimore Bridge Collapse Site]

In the salvage yard Monday morning, workers disassembled the metal trusses by attacking them with propane torches and a pair of giant shears that sliced them into more manageable pieces.

In the water nearby was the Chesapeake 1000, floating crane whose previous assignments include helping the CIA retrieve part of a sunken Soviet submarine.

Six construction workers who were on the bridge at the time plunged to their deaths in the collapse. Four bodies have since been recovered. Salvage crews hope to recover the two remaining bodies after more of the debris has been removed.

The wreckage removal is a step toward allowing more commercial traffic to access the Port of Baltimore. Tradepoint Atlantic is the only maritime shipping terminal currently operating in the port area.

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